Thursday, March 22, 2007
INM daily summary – 22 March 2007
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- Ahmed Shibani, a senior aide to Moqtada Sadr, met with Nouri al-Maliki after being freed from two years in US custody.
- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon heads to Baghdad for one-day visit for talks with Nouri al-Maliki.
- The government has been indirectly talking to several Sunni insurgent groups over the past three months in a bid to persuade them to lay down their arms and join the political process, said Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation.
- The Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups, the main one allegedly led by Qais al-Khazaali, previously a close aid to al-Sadr. The militants are purportedly being trained in Iran and paid by the Quds Force.
- The PUK office in Mosul was attacked by a VBIED killing three and wounding 20.
- Some Iraqi Shias banned from entering Jordan due to concern of Shia missionary activities.
- Sunni Arab leaders will meet on March 28-29 in Saudi Arabia to persuade al-Maliki to drastically change his tactics and policies to achieve stability.
- Iraqi Deputy Planning Minister Faik Abdul Rasool said on Wednesday foreign investors in Iraq would be exempted from all taxes and customs for 10 or 15 years on the condition that they have Iraqi shareholders.
- Iraqi forces detained 20 suspects and US troops another 11, while two weapons caches were seized with containers of nitric acid and chlorine in Mansour.
- Gas pipeline to be built to link gas networks between Iraq and Syria.
- Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned on Thursday that his country could be thrown into chaos if U.S.-led coalition forces withdrew before his national troops were ready to handle security on their own.
- A curfew was imposed in Basrah as clashes erupted. It was unclear whether it was a tribal issue or the Fadhela Party and the Mahdi Army fighting.
- Armed groups started to ban satellite dishes in Muqdadiyah and warned residents against using them.
